Charles Foreign Corresponden

Foreign Correspondents in Japan


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was an experience."

      Michener also said that some manipulation of the exchange rates allowed the more astute to buy yen at one place at the official rate and convert it back into dollar money orders at a lower rate-until the authorities caught on. And some correspondents had the foresight to buy land, usually through Japanese wives, and later cashed in when real estate prices in land-short Japan started spiraling.

      But others lost during the May Day rioting of 1951. John Rich, who had recently acquired "a shiny new black Ford" through the military post exchange, lent it to Irving Levine of NBC on "that fateful day." Irv parked it on Hibiya Boulevard by the moat, across from MacArthur's headquarters. "When the rioters broke out of the palace grounds they began overturning and setting fire to cars, including mine," said Rich. "Max Desfor (of AP) took a photo of my car upside down and blazing, with a young Japanese student standing beside it with club in hand. . . . Max's picture ran on the front page of the New York Times the next day."

       And the war ground on

      In Korea, the combined North Korean-Chinese forces fought through snow and bitter cold across the 38th parallel into South Korea and reoccupied Seoul in early January. But their momentum had been spent, and the United Nations forces had the advantage of air cover and mechanized transportation in the open plains of southwest Korea, in contrast to the mountainous terrain near Korea's Manchurian border. In February, the 8th Army started its counterattack, retook Seoul on March 15, and at the end of the month, had gained its more or less original positions on the 38th parallel.

      In February, John Foster Dulles, visiting Japan as a special emissary of President Eisenhower on a peace treaty for Japan, visited the Press Club as a guest speaker, together with Ambassador William J. Sebald.

      In the meantime, the friction between Truman and MacArthur came to a head. The issue: Whether to broaden the war by attacking China. MacArthur openly defied President Truman's policy of confining the war to the Korean Peninsula. He apparently took the fight to the Republican leadership in Congress. On April 11, the President announced that he had "relieved General MacArthur of his commands" and designated Lieutenant General Mathew B. Ridgway to succeed him.

      In Japan, the announcement caused profound shock. Emperor Hirohito called at the embassy to express his distress. Prime Minister Yoshida and other leaders reacted with sympathy and sorrow. The two houses of the Diet passed resolutions thanking MacArthur for what he had done for Japan.

      William J. Sebald wrote in With MacArthur in Japan that MacArthur's remoteness was "often criticized, but not by the Japanese, who understood or respected the need for aloofness. The critics generally were non-Japanese writers and reporters who had no responsibility for the Occupation and little understanding of MacArthur's methods of dealing with a unique, sensitive, and alien people." As major newspapers extolled MacArthur, a throng estimated at more than two hundred thousand turned out early in the morning to line MacArthur's road to Tokyo's Haneda Airport, wave tiny American and Japanese flags, and call out, "Sayonara."

       Battlefield shifts to Panmunjom

      On June 23, almost one year after the war had begun, Jakob Malik, Soviet U.N. delegate, suggested that the two sides begin talks for a cease-fire and armistice. On orders from Washington, Ridgway broadcast a proposal for such a meeting to Kim II Sung.

      South Korea's President Syngman Rhee, vehemently opposed to armistice talks from the outset, held that Korea's problem would not be solved with the nation divided. Over his protests, the truce talks began on July 10 at Kaesong, a site chosen by the Communist side. Though south of the 38th parallel, Kaesong was held by the Communists.

       Meanwhile, in Tokyo . . .

      In Tokyo, once again a new administration took over the Press Club as events in Korea moved into a new stage. Joe Fromm, a bundle of energy from the U.S. News & World Report and a key player in the Press Club's birth, took over as president. His Executive Board consisted of A.W. Jessup (Newsweek) as first vice-president, William Jorden (AP) as first vice-president, Dwight Martin (Time-Life) as treasurer, and Don Huth (AP) as secretary.

       And still they die

      After entering the new year, three more correspondents died before Malik even mentioned a truce, and a fourth died during the armistice talks to bring the Korean War death toll of correspondents to eighteen. AFP's Jean Marie de Premonville was killed by machine-gun fire on February 11 while covering a U.N. patrol action. William H. Graham of the New York Journal of Commerce died on March 31 when his navy plane crashed while taking off from a carrier. Derick Pearcy of Reuters died when his jeep hit a land mine on May 25. Finally, on December 27, 1952, after the armistice talks had dragged on for almost a year and a half, Jorge Teodoro of the Philippines, attached to the U.N. Department of Public Information, was killed when his Greek Air Force C-47 crashed on takeoff from Chinhae.

      Three more correspondents were captured by the Communists and languished in prison for close to three years before being released. They were Maurice Chanteloup, AFP news writer; Frank ("Pappy") Noel, AP cameraman; and Philip Deane, London Observer.

      Hessell Tiltman of the London Daily Herald, serving as Club president up to June 1951, recalled that the Korean War provided the occasion for two of the Club's noteworthy events. One was a party for the U.N. wounded, the only event of its kind authorized by U.S. Army medical authorities. The cross section of U.N. convalescent cases included Americans, British, Thais, Filipinos, Turks, Australians, and others. Each guest was seated at a table where there was a correspondent who spoke his language.

      The commanding surgeon had laid down two conditions: no alcohol for the guests, and all guests to be returned to their hospital beds by 10 P.M. "War correspondents being a hospitable tribe and battle-scarred veterans of whatever nationality only human, ensuring observance of the first condition was not easy," Hessell commented. The elderly president, flanked by two burly colleagues for protection, stationed himself before the elevator and staircase leading to the billets above to prevent well-meaning members from spiriting guests upstairs for a quick one. "But good sense and good humor won out and all the multinational guests were returned to their hospitals in good order and without incident" to Tiltman's relief.

      Tiltman's second memorable event was a solemn gathering at which the foreign press corps paid tribute to the memory of correspondent members who had died in Korea or in transit to or from the war zone. Mrs. Jean MacArthur attended on behalf of the Supreme Commander. Later, a plaque listing names and affiliations of the dead was hung "inside the club entrance where it still stands as a reminder of the price paid by those whose duty it was to report the course of the conflict that turned back the Communist attempt to engulf all Korea."

      While the Reds stalled the truce talks, fighting erupted again. Ridgway realized he had erred in agreeing to Kaesong as the site of the talks, and insisted on a change to Panmunjom, midway between the two opposing front lines and less vulnerable to Communist machinations. The talks moved to Panmunjom without any improvement. The Communists insisted on withdrawal of foreign troops from Korea as the condition for the talks. Vice Admiral C. Turner Joy replied with a flat no. The Reds backed down at the ninth meeting. But the negotiations followed the same pattern-deadlock, recess, and incidents repeated over and over again.

      On December 11, the two sides finally got around to talking prisoner exchange